Editing The Pen Addict 350/transcript (section)

== New Topic Introduction ==


'''Brad Dowdy:''' So I caught this next tidbit, Myke, in Slack this morning just as I was browsing around looking for things. I'm going to let you read the link that's contained within. Yeah, man. Because I don't want to pass out during it. But there was basically an issue with a Monteverde, Inc. And I was, I mean, I'm out of that loop. I don't, I can't keep up with everything all the time. And I just happened to see that this morning that Yafa, the U.S. distributor for Monteverde, replied about the Inc. And I felt like what they did was like perfect in how you handle and own up to a mistake. And I think a lot of people can learn from something like this. And I certainly learn things from something like this because we all screw up. Like, I'm going to screw up somebody's order. I'm going to make a mistake somehow. We're going to mess up a case. It's just going to happen. But how you handle it, you know, kind of dictates, you know, what the future holds for you. So I thought this was worth reading. It's not very long, but I thought this was worth reading in its entirety. So do you mind?

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah, this is a great communication from Rachel Goulet. This is in like a Goulet Pens Facebook group. And so this is you from the way that this from the way this post opens tells me how much conversation there has been about this issue in the Goulet Nation Facebook group regarding the Monteverde bad ink issue. So that's how it starts, right? People know what that means. But in brackets, bottles sold primarily in late 2018 that have a rotten egg smell. Oh, dear. I hadn't heard about this at all. I know you hadn't either. But that's terrible, right? Like, you don't want that. Anyway. Yeah, something's wrong. Yeah, something bad's happened. So here's a message from Yair Greenberg, the founder and CEO of Yaffa, who bottles the Monteverde ink. So this is a quote within a quote. I am personally on it for the past few weeks. We are taking steps to avoid these kinds of contamination problems. And some of the steps we've taken are one, we are cleaning our semi-auto ink filling machines of new chemicals. Two, we are buying new filling machines. Three, we are changing the filling hoses more often. Four, we are buying new inks to replace the old ones that show contamination. Five, using gloves and masks when needed. Six, working closely with our ink factory and learning more about how to improve the storage of our inks. And seven, less exposure of open ink bottle to open air. So that's the quote. I think what's happened here, there's been some kind of bacteria. Like, you know, some bad chemical reaction has occurred and it's polluted the machines, right? Like, that's what it feels like. There was a batch and it's kind of spread from there, maybe. So that's the quote from the CEO of Yaffa. So, Goulet continues, If anyone believes they have a bad bottle, even if it was given free of a purchase, we ask you to please email and they will replace it at no cost with any color of Monteverde ink of your choice. This is they give an email for a Yaffa. It's scottfoxx at Yaffa, Y-A-F-A dot com. We're sorry for the trouble and we are encouraged that Yaffa and Monteverde is making it right and taking these steps to ensure no contamination happens in the future. These things happen. If you have any questions, reply. I want to ask you a question. I want to just understand a little bit here about what the situation is. So these are Monteverde inks. Yaffa bottles them. Is that on behalf of Monteverde? Yeah, I'm sure. And then what's the ink factory? Is this Yaffa's ink factory? Or is the ink being made somewhere else? So it goes to Yaffa, Yaffa bottle, it's sent it to Monteverde, Monteverde, ship it?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' No, I think it's an ink factory somewhere. The ink is shipped in bulk to Yaffa. Yaffa is the bottler and distributor. Right. It's my guess. Like if I had to paint the picture. Okay. So what's happening? Monteverde. Okay, so the chat says Yaffa owns Monteverde.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Okay, thank you for that. So it's, all right, that makes sense then. So it's Monteverde is a brand of Yaffa. Yaffa have their own factory that bottle the ink and slap the labels on them. But they are contracting out to a company to actually make the ink, which is fine. This is not a criticism. I'm just trying to work out the flow here. You know, like there are many, many companies that do things that is right. Like you don't do one thing. So you just get another company to do that part and then they'll take care of it for you. I think that's awesome. That like the way they're dealing with this. I really like, even that they're replacing free ink. Like that is the way to do this because the reason is you ruined someone's day. Yeah. Because you potentially made their office smell bad for a while. So like this is the way to handle this. We share these types of stories every now and then because we have a lot of makers that listen to this show. Take a lesson from it.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. I was impressed. That's why I wanted to put it in here. Like I was impressed. Like, you know, it stinks for, well, literally, I didn't mean it that way. Yeah. That was pretty good. I didn't. Normally, I would own up to it if I did that on purpose. But like it sucks for those people that had it. And like the naysayers would say, well, you should be doing all this stuff already. You know, maybe they do, but that doesn't solve what's happened in the past, right? Yeah. Being negative, well, you should have been doing this the whole time doesn't fix anything. So they've been proactive saying, here's how we're going to fix it.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Sometimes you don't know something needs to be done until something goes wrong. Like if you have cleaned things on a specific schedule for 10 years and you've never had a problem, why would you start doing it more? Yeah. Right? Like that's wasting money as a company, right? Like you're like, oh, R-Ink's perfectly fine, but we're going to start cleaning the machines more than we did. Like it doesn't make sense, right? Like, so this is how you learn. You make mistakes, you learn, and you move on. And the best people, the best companies are people that can do that, right? That like when you make a mistake, you learn from the mistake and you move on from it. Like that's the right way to live. And it's cool to see that Monteverdi are doing that. Yeah. It came right from the top.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' You know, the CEO put out a message. This is what happened. These are the steps we're taking to fix it. And if you were affected, here's what we're going to do for you. That's it. Like it was perfect. It was like 101, but no one does this. This is an outlier, you know, I believe.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Well, you know who does this typically? Small companies do this. Yes. Really small companies.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Like these are the words I live by, right? But you don't normally see this from a larger company like that, right? Like I could not, like that would ruin my business if I handled that poorly. Like I am done, right? Like, so I learn a lot from these things.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah. Yeah. So cool story. All right. Should we do a couple of RCPA before we leave today? Yeah. We just have a couple of short ones and then we'll wrap it up. All right. So the first one comes to us via Curd Junkiest. I have two Kaveco fountain pens and each has been a disappointment. The nib of the first, which is a classic, suffered a baby's bottom, which I corrected. Brad, can you just tell people what that means in case they don't know? It's a super weird phrase.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. I mean, it's like a little extended area of the nib. Like the nib is a little bit too big in that area. So it causes inconsistency in the line. So just by, you know, taking it down a little bit on sand, you know, like micro grit sandpaper, you can wear that spot down and make it more even and smooth. So the line flows consistently.

'''Myke Hurley:''' A little too much material left behind, basically, when the nib was made.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Let's finish this number one before we get to number two. Okay. Hopefully number one is being corrected. By switching from Bach to Jovo. But I haven't tried the new Jovo nibs to know. So it was a repeated known issue with Kaveco's nibs. And now the nib change, I'm anxious to try one of the new ones, see how it goes.

'''Myke Hurley:''' The cap of the second, a sport in steel, exuberantly liberates itself when posted, which is a unnecessarily fancy way to say it comes off. How can I convince the cap of number two to stay in place when posted?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' So that's a downside of a metal barrel and a metal cap. Is it a friction problem? Yeah. Yeah. So Kaveco uses a plastic liner to allow you to kind of shove the cap in there. But that plastic liner on the metal barrels never going to be good enough if, you know, sometimes. Right. You have to really get it on there. And still, as you write, it's going to work itself off.

'''Myke Hurley:''' But did I put that on there so it doesn't damage the pen because metal on metal will damage? Is that the reason?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' It's on there so it doesn't damage it. Also, so it stays. Like, so you can post the pen. Right. When you make, we talked about that with the spoke pen, it's like when you make a metal pen, you have a decision to make about posting. So Kaveco tried to solve it by adding the plastic liner in the cap. And it works-ish. Right. Like, there's nothing you can do to convince it to stay more than shoving it on harder. And then that's just going to eventually remold the plastic. And then you'll have to shove it on harder the next time. And then it's just, in the end, it's a cycle you're never going to win.

'''Myke Hurley:''' That's a problem with Kavecos, then, because for most people, they need to be used posted. So maybe this is a warning to say, like, maybe don't buy the metal one.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. I mean, I don't have too many problems with it, but I know what they're talking about. Like, I've bumped it enough to where it's come loose, then I'll just reseed it, then I'll keep going. I mean, it's just kind of you deal with it. It's not a huge enough negative to make me stop buying it.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Okay. Yeah. Okay. That makes sense. Yeah. It's like, I wouldn't post it. I don't even post a Kaveco. Like, I'm really not a posting person. You'll be super surprised at how small a pen I can use. Same here. You know, like, I can use and do use, like, my M90 unposted. Sure. And that's comfortable for me. But if you are posting, then, like, this is a consideration. Like, the M90 has a little catch, doesn't it? Which is how, I guess, it helps that stay on. Yeah. So, it's worth trying that out or maybe looking at different materials if that's the thing that you want to do. Because it seems like it's a tricky thing to get right, as you say. Yep. KM Squared asks, Brad, are you bringing any fire on fire to the Atlanta pen show? Maybe.